Olympic file: Newcomer claims men’s luge title

The Canadian Luge Championships took place this past weekend at
the Olympic track in Calgary, an annual event that assists managers and coaches
in selecting the national team for the season.

Matt McMurray, 22, beat all of the members of the 2006 Olympic
team to the bottom to claim the national singles title. He bested the previous
champion by just 0.005 seconds.

“This was a very big day for me to win my first championship,
but also because it was a selections race,” he said.

Sam Edney and Ian Cockerline placed second and third
respectively.

In the women’s event, two-time Olympian Regan Lauscher took
kthe women’s title, followed by Meaghan Simister and Monica Gorham.

The Moffat brothers, Chris and Mike, won the men’s doubles
event, beating out Grant Albrecht and Eric Pothier, and Cameron Gunn and David
Adair.

Crawford top-10 in cross-country opener

The FIS Cross-Country World Cup season launched in Dusseldorf,
Germany this past week with men’s and women’s sprint races and team relays.

In the women’s sprint, Chandra Crawford of Canmore, Alberta
placed 10
th
overall, moving up from 24
th
in the
qualifier, while teammate Perianne Jones was 41
st
.

The men’s sprint was 1.5 km, and the top Canadian was Philip
Widmer in 36
th
. Stefan Kuhn was 60
th
, Sean Crooks 70
th
,
and David Nighbor 71
st
out of 77 racers.

In the 6x0.8 km women’s relay, the Swedish team claimed the top
place, followed by Russia and Finland. The Canadian women did not enter a team.

In the 6x1.5 km men’s relay, Sweden also took the top place
over the second Norwegian team. The second Swedish team was third. Canada was
17
th
, after being eliminated in the semi-final.

Track Club up to 160 members

The Track Club, a community-based organization created to
support the Whistler Sliding Centre, is up to 160 members in the Sea to Sky
region. Members range from kids keen to try the track when it opens in early
2008 to community members interested in becoming officials. For more information
or a membership visit the website at
www.bcsliding.com
.